Maelea must have read his mind, because her gaze strayed over his right shoulder, and her eyes grew even wider.
Okay, that meant more than one. Their luck was not improving. He squeezed her hand to get her attention. When her fear-filled eyes darted back to his, he glanced down at the rocks, silently telling her not to make any quick moves when he let go.
The tiniest nod of her head was all the confirmation he needed. At his back, another hiss echoed, followed by the clicking of dozens of nails against stone.
He let go of her, grasped the sword, and swiveled, arcing out before the first kobalos could attack. A shriek sounded as he caught one across the chest, followed by another series of hisses and growls as they charged.
He swung out with the blade, kicked and knocked one creature into another. A grunt sounded as they went down. It was darker in here, with very little light coming through from above, and he wasn’t sure how many he took down, but when Maelea screamed at his back, he knew the longer they lingered, the more would arrive.
“Grab on to me!”
She’d climbed all the way out of the water already. Her fingers grasped the back of his shirt. She grunted as he continued to fight and move forward, drawing them closer to the light. Her grip tightened on his shirt, and she nearly lost her balance before righting herself. Bones cracking against rock echoed in the darkness along with more grunts and hisses, and the feel of Maelea slipping. She was fighting too, he realized. Kicking, punching, doing whatever she could to get them through as well.
They reached the incline. He turned, pushed her between him and the rocks. Yelled, “Climb!”
A roar rocked the cavern, the vibration nearly knocking Gryphon off his feet. Maelea gripped his back to steady herself. The kobaloi stopped their attack, their heads swiveling in the direction of the sound. With the sword gripped in two hands, Gryphon looked to the right too, toward a darkened tunnel coming alive with a fiery red glow that seemed to be growing in intensity.
Vibrations shook the floor. Another roar echoed through the cave. The kobaloi shrieked as if in fear, hissed, and jumped back.
“Wh-what is that?” Maelea asked at his back, her fingers shaking against his spine.
“I don’t know.” But whatever it was, it was big. And coming right for them.
They didn’t have time to dick around. And Gryphon wasn’t waiting around to see what the fuck it was. “Go!” he hollered, pushing her up the incline.
Rocks clattered together as she dug her feet into the loose pile and scrambled up the side, heading for the sliver of light only five feet away now. He followed, tried not to twist his ankle on the rocks and slide back down the hill. Three kobaloi close by realized they were about to get away, shrieked, and charged, even as the rest of the creatures scrambled away from the oncoming threat. Gryphon twisted, arced out with the blade, caught one across the throat. The creature went down. Another hissed and charged.
“Maelea!”
“I’m there!” she screamed.
More rocks tumbled down the incline, smacked him in the face as he battled. He kicked out, knocked the closest kobalos down the hill to land with a crack on his back. On the other side of the river, the red glow erupted in flames ten feet high. And then light flooded the cavern, blinding Gryphon with its intensity. He blinked several times, opened his eyes, and saw the twenty-foot-tall fire demon, surrounded by a vortex of swirling black smoke and fiery flames.
Holy shit.
The hundreds of kobaloi along the banks of the river shrieked and rushed away from the demon, crawling like spiders along the walls, rushing for a hole in the ceiling and their only chance for escape. The demon roared, vomiting a steady stream of fire that singed kobaloi, sent screams of agony ringing through the cavern, and kicked the temperature up at least twenty degrees.
“I’m through!” Maelea yelled.
Sword gripped in one hand, the other arm out for balance, Gryphon scrambled up the wall of rock after her.
His lungs burned, but he reached the opening. Squinted into the bright sunlight. Maelea grasped his arm and pulled. Halfway out, something grabbed his leg, then blinding pain shot across his nerve endings as nails or claws or teeth slashed through his calf.
***
Max knew he wasn’t supposed to be in the tunnels, but he was tired of being told what to do. And the way his mother kept watching him with those eagle eyes of hers was driving him freakin’ nuts.